Air Force Answering to Congress

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M30o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Air Force Answering to Congress
Published: Tue, March 04, 2008 - 11:53 am
Reuters is reporting that top Air Force officials will have to testify before a House Appropriations Committee about their decision to award a tanker contract to Northrop Grumman and EADS rather than Boeing. The KC-45A, the Northrop Grumman/EADS tanker will be built here in Mobile, creating thousands of jobs.
Check out what people in Seattle are saying about the decision.

Check out the Reuters copy below.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Air Force officials will testify on Wednesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee on their decision to award a $35 billion contract for a new refueling aircraft to Northrop Grumman Corp and European partner EADS.

A number of U.S. lawmakers, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, have expressed surprise at the contract choice, saying the decision to bypass Boeing Co will lead to job losses in the United States.

Northrop says it will assemble its A330 aircraft and modify it for military operations in Mobile, Alabama, creating at least 2,500 new jobs and supporting 25,000 around the country.

EADS has promised to assemble all A330 commercial freighters at the new facility it plans to build in Mobile.

Testifying on Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST will be Sue Payton, the top Air Force arms buyer, and Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, the top military official in charge of acquisitions.

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and his special assistant for acquisitions, Kenneth Miller, have also been busy answering the questions of Boeing supporters on Capitol Hill.

Reflecting overall market weakness, Northrop shares were 2.3 percent lower at $80.63 in mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while Boeing shares were down 1.5 percent at $79.46.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Read McCain’s 2004 speech to the Senate and then tell me just how concerned Boeing is about the poor tax payer in this country!

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?prod=49262&session=dae.33467909.1202133446.gRASPH8AAAEAAHMVchAAAAAH&modele=verbatim

Posted by BamaBob on 03/05/08 - 10:18 am • Report Abuse   

Boeing was trying its best to screw this country over on a tanker leasing deal that would have cost billions more than an outright purchase.  John McCain stepped in and brought attention to the problem.

“Astonishingly, Ms. Druyun also admitted that she similarly harmed the United States on behalf of Boeing on several other major defense programs, including the NATO AWACS, C-130 AMP, and the C-17 programs. How much taxpayers were fleeced remains unclear.”

Maybe a closer look should be taken at some o those past Boeing contracts.

Posted by BamaBob on 03/05/08 - 10:07 am • Report Abuse   

If they change their decision and decide to award this to Boeing I do not want Boeing to import a single part of this new tanker into the United States.  Because if they do then what was the point of not giving the contract to Airbus?

Posted by asda on 03/05/08 - 9:18 am • Report Abuse   

If Pelosi and Murray don’t understand how Northrop got the contract..Sue Payton should just take them to the side and just tell them..look.. Northrop had them on ‘sale’..as women they should understand that..right?..sheesh… if it was that important to them they should have been in the ‘loop’ during the negotiations..this is no different to me than any ‘closed’ bidding contract..seems Boeing now wants to come back and try to find where they can cut prices, now..after the bids are known..that’s not how it works is it? and if you’re really worried about American jobs lost..then revisit Ford Motor Co....General Motors.. and Chrysler...and nafta and..Wall-mart..the steel industry..the textile industry..i don’t care if it cost 1200 jobs in wash. if it creates 3000 jobs ...and revitalizes a stagnant economy here.

Posted by primate502002 on 03/05/08 - 9:00 am • Report Abuse   

Bowing has some of their component parts of it’s production built in Germany, if I am not mistaken, then shipped to the USA for installation.  As explained, this company, in the beginning phases, some parts will be built in other locations but installed in the product by Mobile workers.  It is also reasonable to consider, that the company would likely reassign some of it’s technical and engineering work force to our state as part of the restructure.  From the interview that I listened to, eventually as the workforce in Alabama is trained and capable, there is a possibility that some of the foreign built components may also be built in Mobile, as future phases develope.  Actually, too many American companies have components of it’s product made outside America then ship them back to America to be distrubuted.  (while using tax shelters as they do that).  Alabama needs the jobs.
Senator Sessions summed this up as insourcing rather than outsourcing.

Posted by net_50 on 03/04/08 - 12:45 pm • Report Abuse   



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